NWI_Scanner_Guy
SCANNING THE AIRWAVES SINCE 1987
Thought I'd share my experience with a digiCircle purchase, and ask if anyone else has purchased from them, and if you had any problems if you did.
Last week I was eying both a PRO-197 and a PRO-106 listed on digiCircle. Still had some tax return money left over, and was looking to buy a digital scanner since I so foolishly sold off my PSR-800 about a month ago (yeah, I have no idea what the heck I was thinking). Anyway, couldn't decide if I wanted base or handheld. The 197 was cheaper by about 40 dollars, but after factoring in shipping, the difference was only about 18 dollars. Well, while trying to decide, the 197 was sold, leaving just the 106. Not knowing how long it would remain in the site, I went ahead and purchased it. Paid about four dollars more for priority versus regular shipping, which turned out to be next day shipping; a happy surprise indeed.
Anyway, when the scanner arrived, I promptly installed batteries and powered it up. Came on okay, and even noticed that the previous owner hadn't cleared out the memory. After watching it go through its scan-lists a few times and not picking up anything, I pressed the "WX" button for the weather, and got nothing. Hmmm, not good, I thought. Decided to search through the various pre-programmed bands. Still nothing. And I noticed that on the CB, Marine and Railroad bands it would scan through a few channels and then stop. Even turning the squelch down all the way failed to produce any sound.
Thinking it may either be a loose antenna connection or a loose speaker connection, I decided to open it up and take a peek around before contacting digiCircle requesting a RMA. Now I have some electronics experience from my days in the Air Force, but just enough to make me dangerous, but from what I could see with the naked eye and through a magnifying glass, all connections concerning the antenna looked solid. I couldn't get to the speaker connections, so I just put it all back together and prepared to e-mail digiCircle. However, before I did that, I decided to turn it on again, just to see what, if anything, might happen. Well, much to my surprise, when it came on, it started receiving. Thinking it might be a fluke, I once again pressed the "WX" button, and was able to toggle through the three weather stations I can pick up here in the Chicago area. As a last test, I reset the scanner to "fresh out of the box" conditions and did the weather thing again. Success again, so I hooked it up to my computer and downloaded a few trunk systems and once again it performed flawlessly.
So, to make a long story short, I have no idea what was wrong with it to begin with and even less of an idea as to how I "fixed" it just by taking it apart and putting it back together. I was "this close" to writing off digiCircle, and vowing never to do business with them again. Now that the 106 works fine, I feel a little more confident about buying from them again in the future.
So, I was just wondering if anyone else has bought anything from them, and if so, did you experience any problems with the product, or was it smooth sailing all the way?
Last week I was eying both a PRO-197 and a PRO-106 listed on digiCircle. Still had some tax return money left over, and was looking to buy a digital scanner since I so foolishly sold off my PSR-800 about a month ago (yeah, I have no idea what the heck I was thinking). Anyway, couldn't decide if I wanted base or handheld. The 197 was cheaper by about 40 dollars, but after factoring in shipping, the difference was only about 18 dollars. Well, while trying to decide, the 197 was sold, leaving just the 106. Not knowing how long it would remain in the site, I went ahead and purchased it. Paid about four dollars more for priority versus regular shipping, which turned out to be next day shipping; a happy surprise indeed.
Anyway, when the scanner arrived, I promptly installed batteries and powered it up. Came on okay, and even noticed that the previous owner hadn't cleared out the memory. After watching it go through its scan-lists a few times and not picking up anything, I pressed the "WX" button for the weather, and got nothing. Hmmm, not good, I thought. Decided to search through the various pre-programmed bands. Still nothing. And I noticed that on the CB, Marine and Railroad bands it would scan through a few channels and then stop. Even turning the squelch down all the way failed to produce any sound.
Thinking it may either be a loose antenna connection or a loose speaker connection, I decided to open it up and take a peek around before contacting digiCircle requesting a RMA. Now I have some electronics experience from my days in the Air Force, but just enough to make me dangerous, but from what I could see with the naked eye and through a magnifying glass, all connections concerning the antenna looked solid. I couldn't get to the speaker connections, so I just put it all back together and prepared to e-mail digiCircle. However, before I did that, I decided to turn it on again, just to see what, if anything, might happen. Well, much to my surprise, when it came on, it started receiving. Thinking it might be a fluke, I once again pressed the "WX" button, and was able to toggle through the three weather stations I can pick up here in the Chicago area. As a last test, I reset the scanner to "fresh out of the box" conditions and did the weather thing again. Success again, so I hooked it up to my computer and downloaded a few trunk systems and once again it performed flawlessly.
So, to make a long story short, I have no idea what was wrong with it to begin with and even less of an idea as to how I "fixed" it just by taking it apart and putting it back together. I was "this close" to writing off digiCircle, and vowing never to do business with them again. Now that the 106 works fine, I feel a little more confident about buying from them again in the future.
So, I was just wondering if anyone else has bought anything from them, and if so, did you experience any problems with the product, or was it smooth sailing all the way?